Four-year-old witnesses father’s murder in Noida, alerts family who thought he killed himself

Santosh Raghav, a native of Bulandshahr, was found hanging on the terrace of his rented accommodation in Sector 93 around 8.30pm on Saturday by his wife Mamta after she returned home from work.

Updated: Jan 22, 2019 09:05:20

By Tanmayee Tyagi

According to the family members, the victim, Santosh Raghav’s daughter claimed that he was murdered by two men.
(iStock / Representative Image)

The body of a 31-year-old man, who was thought to have taken his own life on Saturday, was brought back by Noida police from Bulandshahr after his four-year-old daughter told the family that he had been murdered and she “witnessed the killing”.

Santosh Raghav, a native of Bulandshahr, was found hanging on the terrace of his rented accommodation in Sector 93 around 8.30pm on Saturday by his wife Mamta after she returned home from work.

Santosh was employed as an electrician and the couple has two children — the four year-old daughter and a two-year-old son. Santosh and Mamta, from Etawa, got married seven years ago.

According to family members, their daughter claimed Santosh was murdered by two men.

“We were on our way to Bulandshahr on Sunday morning for the last rites. I was travelling in the first car with the body. The kids were following in the second car with their mother. The daughter had fallen unconscious from what we thought was shock. When she regained her senses, she told Mamta that two ‘uncles’ had come to the house on Saturday evening while Santosh was helping her study,” Seema Rana, Santosh’s paternal aunt, said.

According to the girl, the men made Santosh consume alcohol and assaulted him. “She said one of them was ‘healthy’ and the other was ’thin’. The thin man took him upstairs and with a dupatta hanged him on the terrace. The girl was so frightened that she hid herself in a room and fell asleep. When she got up, we were already on our way to Bulandshahr for the last rites. She asked about her father and when Mamta tried to tell her what had happened, she recounted the incident,” Seema said.

She said they informed Bulandshahr police about the incident. “But by then, Noida police had already been informed by Santosh’s neighbours that they had seen two men go to Santosh’s house just before his death. Noida police then alerted Bulandshahr police to stop the last rites,” Rana said.

A team from Phase 2 Noida police went to Bulandshahr on Sunday and returned with the body. “The body has been sent for an autopsy. The cause of death will be ascertained. A case will be registered once the autopsy report comes in. We will also record the girl’s statement,” Vaibhav Krishna, senior superintendent of police, said.

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